Condemned Virginia man wants to die by electrocution

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man set to die later this month for killing a 16-year-old girl and bragging about it in a letter to prosecutors wants to die by electrocution.

Paul Warner Powell is scheduled to be executed July 14 for killing and attempting to rape Stacie Lynn Reed in 1999.

Powell was convicted of Reed’s murder, but the Virginia Supreme Court overturned that verdict. Powell then wrote a taunting letter to Prince William County prosecutors detailing the crime because he thought he no longer could be charged. He was convicted again in 2003.

Virginia gives condemned inmates the choice between lethal injection and electrocution. Since 1995 when the state began offering the choice, only four of the 79 inmates executed have chosen electrocution, including one in 2006.